Local 7-year-old gets gift of hearing through Miracle Ear Foundation

Listening for a miracle, Tom Wright stood in the door of his office talking across the room to the back of Braxton Elder, 7.

Elder had just been fitted with hearing aids by Wright, who is a national, board-certified hearing instrument specialist at Miracle-Ear in Poplar Bluff.

The youngster responded to Wright’s questions and comments with no difficulty.

The hearing aids help correct a problem the boy’s mother, Jordan Dye, first began noticing in the past school year. Elder’s progress in first grade at First Baptist Church had been slowing down.

The family’s ear, nose and throat doctor referred Elder to Miracle-Ear, where he was diagnosed with hearing loss.

He would need hearing aids, the family learned. But Dye was concerned about how the family would be able to afford the cost.

She thought they might have to buy one hearing aid at a time when the local staff told her about the Miracle-Ear Foundation. She applied and Braxton received the hearing aids free of charge.

They were given to the boy last week, and Wright was able to help restore part of the world the 7-year-old had lost.

Wright worked during the appointment with Elder, teaching him how to put his hearing aids in and take them out, and how to put them on the charger each night to ensure they wouldn’t run out of battery.

“First day, things can be kind of weird, because you’re going to hear things you haven’t heard,” Wright told him. “You may get really distracted the first day because there are different kinds of noises. So after the first day or so of things sounding different, keep track of things that are too loud, or if some things are too quiet. Or if they’re high-pitched and scratchy.”

Elder will continue to work with the doctor on the settings and to make sure everything works properly.

Once Elder was wearing his hearing aids, Wright asked, “How do things sound? Do you hear any weird sounds or any strange sounds?”

It will take a while for Elder to begin identifying sounds that he’s not used to, the child and family are learning.

When interviewed later, Dye explained the family stopped at a local store that day and Elder asked, “What are all these noises?”

Elder will be one of about 2,000 children helped this year by the Miracle-Ear Foundation. That’s how many children typically receive assistance annually.

The foundation is a good way for the specialists in the franchise group to help the disabled, Wright said. This is a good way to give back, he said.

“When you see kids with hearing aids for the first time, it’s nice, and it’s good to be able to catch kids when you’re young,” Wright said. “Unfortunately, allowing kids in junior high or high school to go without help, they’ve got problems and don’t get breaks they would have made otherwise. It makes things more stressful.

“Something I really enjoy working with is straight-up (kids). Elder’s going to give me a straight-up answer. Sometimes adults kind of beat around the bush or they don’t want to come out and tell you. I really enjoy working with kids.”

Elder is the oldest of Dye’s three sons. His brothers are Maddox, 3, and Marcus, 2.